An English rock drummer best known for his 34 years of work with the progressive rock band Yes. In all, White has appeared on over 50 albums with artists including John Lennon, George Harrison, Joe Cocker and Ginger Baker.

White began learning to play the piano at the age of 6 and, after switching to drums, played publicly with a local band at 13. Later he worked with a number of bands during the 1960s before being invited to join Ginger Baker's Airforce with Steve Winwood in 1968. The following year, 1969, White received a call from John Lennon asking him to join the Plastic Ono Band for a show. He also performed with Lennon on the legendary Imagine album. When Lennon introduced White to fellow Beatle, George Harrison, he was asked to perform on the All Things Must Pass album, including the single My Sweet Lord.

In 1972, White was touring with Joe Cocker when he received an invitation to join Yes, to replace Bill Bruford who had left to join King Crimson. Three days after meeting with Jon Anderson and Chris Squire, White played at the first show of the group's US Close to the Edge tour. Despite the fact that White had spent time in the studio with the band and even tried playing some of the Close to the Edge material, it is something of a legend that he learned the entire repertoire of extremely complex music in just 3 days. White and the band gave each other 3 months to see if he fitted in, and over 30 years later, he has appeared on every Yes album since.

White released his only solo album, Ramshackled, in 1976.

In addition to his drum playing, White has played piano and written music for several Yes albums and often conducts drum clinics.

White had guested with local Seattle band MerKaBa on a number of occasions. In 2003, he joined sessions for a new MerKaBa album, but these evolved into a new band called White which released an album of the same name in 2006, with a cover by Roger Dean.

He also joined The Syn touring band for dates in the first half of 2006.

Recently, White has been working on projects with Billy Sherwood, notably a new band, Circa:, with a third Yes member, Tony Kaye.